Helen Betty Osborne, or Betty Osborne (1952 - November 13, 1971), was a Cree Aboriginal woman from Norway House reserve who was kidnapped and murdered while walking down Third Street in The Pas, Manitoba on the evening of November 13, 1971. 1952 (MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... November 13 is the 317th day of the year (318th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 48 days remaining. ... 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1971 calendar). ... This article is about the indigenous people; for the American corporation, see Cree Inc. ... Aboriginal peoples in Canada are indigenous peoples recognized in the Canadian Constitution Act, 1982 as Indians (First Nations), Métis, and Inuit. ... The Pas is a town in Manitoba, Canada, located at 54° N 101° W, some 630 km north of the provincial capital, Winnipeg. ...

She was born in Norway House, Manitoba, the eldest of many children born to Joe and Justine (née McKay) Osborne. Her ambition was to go to college, and the only way to succeed in doing so would be to continue her education away from the reserve (as secondary education was not available) It was then that she was sent to live with a white family (in a government program where the families were reimbursed for hosting Native students) in The Pas, Manitoba, a culturally-mixed town of whites and Métis. Norway House is a growing community of some 6500 people some 30 kilometres (20 miles) north of Lake Winnipeg, on the bank of the eastern channel of Nelson River, in the province of Manitoba, Canada. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Mestizo. ...

On the evening of her death, she was walking home when she was abducted, brutally beaten, raped and killed. Her unclothed body was found later by police.

Police at first suspected her boyfriend, Cornelius Bighetty, but his name was later cleared.

Four young local white men were eventually implicated in her death: Dwayne Archie Johnston, James Robert Paul Houghton, Lee Scott Colgan and Norman Bernard Manger. It was not until December 1987, sixteen years after her death, that any of them were convicted of the crime, and then only Johnston was convicted, as Houghton had been acquitted, Colgan had received immunity for testifying against Houghton and Johnston, and Manger had never been charged. 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Immunity confers a status ojavascript:insertTags(ì,,)n a person or body that makes that person or body free from otherwise legal obligations such as, for example, lijavascript:insertTags(Ú,,)ability for damages or punishment for criminal acts. ...

An investigation, led by the Aboriginal Justice Implementation Commission, was launched to determine why it took so long years to bring Osborne's killer to justice. It determined that racism was the largest factor in both the murder of Osborne and the failure to bring her murderer to trial in a timely manner. The event continues to be a source of strain in The Pas to the present day. The Aboriginal Justice Implementation Commission was created by the Government of Manitoba, Canada in November, 1999, and issued its final report on June 29, 2001. ...

The RCMP officially closed the Osborne case on February 12, 1999. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP or Mounties; French, Gendarmerie royale du Canada, GRC) is both the federal police force and the national police of Canada. ... February 12 is the 43rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ...

Twenty nine years after her murder, on July 14, 2000, Manitoba justice minister Gordon Mackintosh formally apologized to the family of Helen Betty Osborne on behalf of the Manitoba government for the justice system's failure in the investigation of her murder. The government also created a $50,000 scholarship for Aboriginal women in Osborne's memory. July 14 is the 195th day (196th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 170 days remaining. ... This article is about the year 2000. ...

Her story was immortalized in the book Conspiracy of Silence by Lisa Priest, and in a 1994 television movie of the same name. 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ...

References

• Culhane, Dara. “Their Spirits Live within Us: Aboriginal Women in Downtown Eastside Vancouver Emerging into Visibility.” American Indian Quarterly 27 (2003): 593-606.
• Gibson, Lisa. “Innocence and purity vs. deviance and immorality: the spaces of prostitution in Nepal and Canada” Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton. MA Thesis. September 2003

External links

• Osborne murder investigation officially closed
• "Canada: Stolen Sisters: A Human Rights Response to Discrimination and Violence against Indigenous Women in Canada." Amnesty International of Canada, 4 Oct. 2004, 30 Oct. 2005
• AJIC, Aboriginal Justice Implementation Commission. “The Death of Helen Betty Osborne.”
• Dan, Le Moal. “Province Apologizes to Helen Betty Osborne Family.” The First Perspective.
• “The Legacy of Helen Betty Osborne: Catalyst for Change of the Justice System.”